


Artists on Artists: Derek Nurse and Chris Chow

by poalimal



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: #Projection, Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Alternate Universe - Music, Derek and Chris are each others' biggest fans, Dialogue, Gen, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Mental Health Issues, pre-relationship?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-02 07:49:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16301012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poalimal/pseuds/poalimal
Summary: 'I hate it when celebrities interview each other. They never ask anything even remotely challenging, it's all just a bunch of dickstroking about ~Their Craft.'





	Artists on Artists: Derek Nurse and Chris Chow

 

Derek Nurse: (facing the wrong way in his chair) Ok! So. Good evening.

Chris Chow: [laughter] It is 8 o'clock in the morning.

DN: Oh, is it--? I'm just a li'l-- turned around here. (turns around in his chair) Oh, hello!

CC: [laughter] Hello.

DN: Good morning! How are you, (reading card) Chris. Tope. Her?

CC: Please. Christoper is my father. You can call me Chris.

DN: [laughter] Well, hello, Chris! I'm Derek. (turning to camera) And this is Artists on Artists.

[Artists on Artists graphic bubbles up, then drains away.]

DN: You remember how we met?

CC: Um... I think it was-- Zellie's Halloween party?

DN: But we'd talked at Sando's before then.

CC: Yea, we talked a bit at Sando's, but not really for that long.

DN: There was a lot going on at Sando's, tbh.

CC: Yea, there was a lot! But honestly, I think. I think I just kept hearing about you?

DN: Mm, what can I say? You can't misspell 'scandal' without the letters of my name.

CC: What is-- [laughter]

DN: [laughter]

CC: Would that be like... skundel? No-- Skunden!

DN: To-night, on Skunden. (looks at camera) Ich liebe danken have me, Feetz, bilduveissen earn me!

CC: (looks at camera) Olifia...

DN: Feetz...

CC: Olifffiaa... [laughter]

DN: [laughter]

CC: Classic. Love that show.

DN: Yea, Skunden is for lovers.

CC: [laughter] Anyway. So.

DN: How we met.

CC: Right, yea! I think-- I think I just kept hearing about you from mutual friends? But it wasn't until Zel's party that I think we really hit it off.

DN: That party was crazy--

CC: Actually, sorry to interrupt you, but can I say-- I didn't even realise this until recently, but I actually read an interview of yours, like, years ago, and it-- honestly helped me crystallise, like, everything I wanted to do with my music?

DN: Fuck off. Really?

CC: No, yea, really! This was like, years ago. I just looked it up the other day and found out it was you. You did this interview with NME. And you said-- you were talking about jazz. Umm. No, not jazz--

DN: Blues.

CC: Yea! You were talking about blues. And you said...  _music is the purest expression of pain in the world. Better than tears, better than sex. It's everything you're feeling in a series of sound_.

DN: Wow. Oh my god. I think I was pretty fucked up during that interview! [laughter]

CC: Yea, well, you seemed like you were fucked up.

DN: [laughter]

CC: But I mean, you really fucked me up! I thought, god, that is just so completely depressing. But it kept-- I dunno, it just stuck with me. You know? I couldn't stop thinking about it.  _Music is the purest expression of pain in the world_. And at the time I was working on all these really moody pieces, and they just--they weren't working at all. Like. They fell flat. You know?

DN: Mm-hm.

CC: And I thought-- you know, what  _is_  pain? Like, there are people out there who can't feel pain at all, and it's-- it's really fucking hard. We think it would be this great thing, like, oh, no pain! We're happy, whatever! But pain is a survival instinct, it's there to, like, help us! It's how we know to protect ourselves from something that's harming us. Our bodies don't forget the beginning of pain, but... well,  _I_  think at least, if we don't-- like, let ourselves push through the rest of it... our bodies kind of forget how to process it. Does that make sense?

DN: Oh my god, yea.

CC: And I'm thinking all this, and I listen to my songs again-- and... I finally got why I was in a rut. Because I was staying in that harmed place. I wasn't moving  _through_  the pain.

DN: Wow. Wow.

CC: And this is of course, like, very specific to me, like, I'm not trying to make a commentary on anyone else's journey. But I think that all of my songs at the time had the same stagnant quality, because I was just-- letting myself be stuck.

DN: Well, how'd you get unstuck?

CC: Well, first of all, I got a therapist. [laughter]

DN: Good move, bold move, (looks at camera) May is Mental Health Awareness month.

CC: But then-- I tried writing past the pain. I wrote lyrics from the perspective of-- Well. From a happy me.

DN:  _Happy Me_! God, I love that album. Seriously. I've told you before and I'm telling you again, that's like one of my favourite albums.

CC: Thank you so much.

DN: No, thank you.

CC: No, thank  _you_!

DN: No! Thank  _you._

CC: Olifiaaa...

DN: Feetz...

CC: [laughter]  
  
DN: [laughter]

CC: [laughter] Yea, no, so, um. That was, uh. That was where that whole concept came from, for  _Happy Me._  It was me really trying to envision in five years' time, what would I look like, who would I be, what would I say... if I were happy? And what would I want the me of right now to know?

DN: Yea, definitely. And I think what was so meaningful about that album-- well, I guess, what made it so meaningful to me... was that you were still... sad? Sometimes? And it wasn't-- it didn't cancel out the rest of your happiness. I think I've probably listened to Brakeline like 600 times?

CC: [laughter]

DN: I'm actually not kidding, I couldn't process any other music for like a solid month. Like, I was in a bad place. Like, a really bad place. I've told you a little bit about it.

CC: Yea. (looks at camera) (cups hands) #JusticeforTreesoot! It was ahead of its time.

DN: [laughter] Please, don't. It sucked, it's ok.

CC: It did not suck, stop! The people just didn't get it.

DN: Yea, they didn't get it, and they also didn't want it. [laughter]

CC: Well, I wanted it! (looks at camera) So take that, people!

DN: [laughter] Ahh. Suffice it to say... for various reasons... a few of my projects didn't...  _perform_  as well as I thought they would. And I had invested so much of myself into my work that I felt like... if I can't evaluate the quality of my own work, how am I supposed to evaluate the quality of... me? Like, if I put my all into something and it's-- it's not great, what does that say about me? Am I any good? Or am I just, like... delusional? And people are just, like, humouring me? You know what I'm saying?

CC: I am with you every step of the way, D. You know that.

DN: (pauses)

CC: Take your time.

DN: (places face in hands)

CC: Take your time.

DN: [laughter] (sits up) Ahh, sorry! I know this is supposed to be like, funny or whatever. But you can be really scary sometimes, you know that?

CC: Me? Scary? Wh-- how so?

DN: You're just like-- so...  _genuine_. Like... most people are full of shit.

CC: Nooo.

DN: Well, I mean, I'm full of shit.

CC: You are not full of shit! Derek.

DN: I am full of shit, it's ok. Again, most people are. It's not a bad thing, really, it's just-- one of those unfortunate truths.

CC: I mean... I guess for a lot of people, that's true, but, like. You are not full of shit. Derek. Seriously. You are incredibly warm and honest. And you make people  _laugh_. Like, you come into a room full of strangers and at the end of like, 30 minutes, everyone's laughing together and happy. Sometimes I just sit back and watch you work.

DN: Mm. Sometimes I sit back and watch you work, too.

CC: [laughter] I mean... I'm not--I'm not a very funny person. So I really admire that quality in you.

DN: Lol, I'm not that funny. And low-key you are actually hilarious. But you don't need to be. Like, funny is whatever, funny is nothing--

CC: It's not nothing. It's not nothing.

DN: --but you sit there and you say, I heard this guy say the most depressing thing about music, and it made me want to be  _happy_. It made me want to help other people be happy. And I believe you! And I don't believe people easily. I'm always looking for a catch.

CC: There's not always a catch. And I don't... I don't think you think there is always one.

DN: Well, I don't think there is one, with you. (looks at camera) Basically, folks, Chris Chow is every bit as lovely as everyone says. Don't believe the hate.

CC: (looks at camera) Believe all the hate you want! I'm not that great, really. People in LA are just-- [laughter] pretty fucking awful. Not all of them. But a lot of them.

DN: Wait, aren't  _you_  from LA?

CC: Wow. Wowww. Wowwww.

DN: What, are you, like, secretly from Oregon, or--

CC: [laughter] What? No! I'm from San Francisco.

DN: Ok. And what does--that mean?

CC: [laughter] It means I'm biased against awful people from awful cities.

DN: Oh, ok. Well. I'm from New York, so. I guess I'm fine.

CC: ...

DN: Oh, wow, ok. Shade.

CC: [laughter]

DN: It's ok. Anything you say against New York, I've probably already said myself. [laughter]

CC: Aw, I forgive you for being from New York.

DN: [laughter]

CC: Can I just say, though. Like, you've been really down on yourself this whole interview. And I know you're working on it, we're working on it together. But I am just, like. Really glad to know you, Derek. Honestly.

DN: Ahh, stop it.

CC: No, you talk about yourself like you're this cynical, awful person, but like, you are one of the most hopeful people I know. Like, you say, god, the world is terrible, people are fake, all the time. But you always search for the good in people. You hate writing people off. Whereas I have no problem writing people off.

DN: Uhh, yea, you do. You're one of the nicest people I know.

CC: No, but I mean-- if a person shows that they don't respect the people I care about, I have zero problems writing them off.

DN: Yea. Ok. That's fair. That's true.

CC: But you're always looking for reasons to like someone. No matter who they are. And you never blame them for letting you down. You just... you're so open to people. It honestly makes me a little jealous sometimes.

DN: Jealous? Why?

CC: It's-- no, I mean. Like, I don't want people to take advantage of you.

DN: Maybe I want to be taken advantage of! [laughter]

CC: Listen, I'll take advantage of you, if that's what you want. [laughter]

DN: Hey-o. (looks at camera) Can you believe this guy? He says the sweetest things.

CC: [laughter] No, that came out wrong.

DN: Mm, I don't think it did. You got a mean streak to you, C - and I like it.

CC: [laughter]

DN: Anyway. My agent is sending me pointed looks, so I think that means our time here is almost up. So real quick, one last question, rapidfire: if you could go back and do it all again, what would you change?

CC: Uh, uh, nothing! Making the mistakes I have has made me understand my strengths as an artist! What about you?

DN: Uhh. [laughter] Your answer is good, sure. Let's go with that.

CC: [laughter]

DN: (looks at camera) So, this has been fun. Thank you for having us. I'm Derek Nurse--

CC: I'm Chris Chow.

DN: And this has been... Artists on Artists.

[Artists on Artists graphic bubbles up.]

 

**Author's Note:**

> 'Ugh. You see what I mean? They're just jerking each other off. Like, seriously - no one wants to hear that shit.'


End file.
